A Not So Happy Halloween
by iloveromance
Summary: As Sally sits in front of the television, sulking about the Halloween fun she missed, she learns something from her big brother that makes her realize that she wasn't the only one who didn't have fun that night. Many thanks to the guest reviewer who suggested this story. Continuation of "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".


_**A/N: Many many thanks to everyone who reviewed my previous "Great Pumpkin" story, "Sweeter Than Halloween Candy". Special thanks to the Guest reviewer who left a review with the suggestion that I write this story. Since I can't thank the person by name, I hope they find their way to this story and that it meets their expectations.**_

Sally sat on the floor of the living room. On the television, her favorite cartoon was playing. Normally she would have laughed at the silly rabbit as it ran away from the big brown dog, but today she merely pouted. And leave it to her big brother to notice.

"What's wrong, Sally?"  
She looked up to see her big brother standing beside her.

"Nothing." She sighed.

"If nothing's wrong, then why aren't you laughing? You love this cartoon!"

She pouted once more and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Not anymore. And I'm never going to laugh at anything ever again!"

"Well, that doesn't sound like you, Sally. Did something happen?"

"Something happened, all right." She grumbled.

Intrigued, he sat down on the floor beside her and turned off the television. "What is it? What happened?"

She turned her back to him and scoffed. "No!"

"Come on, you can tell me." Charlie Brown pleaded. "I'm your brother."

"No!" She said again.

"I promise I won't laugh, Sally. Remember when you had trouble with your locker combination? I didn't laugh and I even went with you to the principal's office to get them to give you another locker."

She sighed at the memory. If it weren't for him, she might still be trying to open her locker. But instead he'd asked the principal to give her a locker on the bottom row instead of the top. And now getting her books was no trouble at all. For a brother, Charlie Brown was pretty great.

"Well… all right." She finally said.

"Good. Now what's wrong?"

"Halloween!" She shouted. "I hate it! Everyone else got to go trick-or-treating and get candy, cookies, money and all sorts of things. And then they got to go to the Halloween party! But did I get to do that? NO! And do you want to know _why?_ I'll tell you why! I-."

"Sally-."

"Well I'll _tell_ you why!" She continued, sounding like Linus as he gave his speech for Class President (which lost him the election when he brought up the Great Pumpkin). She hadn't been there but her brother had told her all about it. "Because of my _Sweet Baboo_ , that's why!"

Charlie Brown looked shocked. "Linus, what's he got to do with this?"

"Because of him I spent all night sitting in a pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin to come. And all that came was a beagle!"

Her brother said nothing. What could he have said? Halloween was ruined and it wouldn't come again for whole year! But then he held up his hand. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going, Big Brother?"

"I'm going to my room." He explained. "Just… watch your cartoons, okay?"

She smiled as he turned on the television and saw that her favorite cartoon was still on. But she was still unable to find anything funny about a rabbit who was now running as fast as he could, trying to get away from a cat.  
"Here, Sally."  
She looked up to find her big brother holding a familiar brown bag. It was the bag he'd used to go trick or treating the night before. "Here." He said, handing her the bag.

"Oof!" She groaned, trying to hold onto the bag. "Why is it so heavy?"

He sighed deeply. "Just open it."

Sally unfolded the bag and looked inside, shocked at what she found. "What's this? Where's the candy?"

"I didn't get any candy." He said.

"But I thought you went trick-or-treating!"

"I did. And while everyone else got candy, I got stuck with a bag full of rocks."

"Rocks? But why?"

"Because nobody likes me. And then at the Halloween party, they wanted to use me as the model to carve their pumpkin, but they only used the back of my head! Lucy's right. I am a blockhead."

She turned off the television and went to him. "No you're not, Big Brother. You're smart, funny and a good friend."

"Friend? But I'm your brother!"

"Sure, but Miss Othmar says that brothers can be friends too. You help me with my homework, help me write letters to Santa Claus and even helped me with my locker."

"Well, yeah but anyone could have done those things."

Sally shook her head. "No, I don't think so. If you hadn't helped me write that letter to Santa Claus last year, I never would have gotten my new bike."

His face reddened, the way it always did when he was embarrassed.

"Sally-."

She hugged him tightly, something she rarely if ever did. But at the moment he looked like he could use a hug. "I'm sorry you didn't have a very good Halloween. Neither did I. But next year I promise we're going to have the best Halloween ever!"

Finally he smiled and hugged her again. "Thanks, Sally. And you're right. Hey! I know! Let's start planning our Halloween costumes right now!"

She clapped joyfully. "Yea! Come on; let's look through Mom's old catalogs and magazines! They have a lot of costumes in there!"

He sat down beside her and took a stack of catalogs and magazines and began flipping through them. And as she looked through the pictures of mermaids, pirates, ghosts, witches, goblins and princesses she smiled.

She could hardly wait till next Halloween. Because she was sure that it was going to be the best ever.


End file.
